ARTICLES ABOUT FOOD STAMPS BY DATE - PAGE 3

It's been a month since food-stamp benefits were cut throughout America for the first time in history. And though it's too soon for official numbers and analyses, the effect of the loss of nearly $300 million in benefits in Pennsylvania and New Jersey is evident across the region. "It's mind boggling how the area has so many people this hungry," said Joanne Castagna, director of the Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry in Prospect Park, Delaware County. "We've seen an increase in people - maybe 20 percent - coming here because their food stamps have been cut and they didn't know where else to turn.

IF YOU are so inclined, you can understand what recent cuts to the food stamp program means: Tomorrow, remove one vegetable and all the desserts from your Thanksgiving spread. Or, go to the grocery store, shop for your usual order, then put back $9 worth of items. That's the average weekly cut to the food stamp program that went into effect Nov. 1, which transpired when a temporary hike to cope with the 2008 recession lapsed and Congress neglected to extend it. Most of us could trim $9 from our shopping cart without too much pain, but those receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

IS FAST FOOD so vital to the nation that taxpayers should spend $7 billion a year to supplement the industry's profits? Imagine the outcry if that was proposed. And yet a study by economists at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and the University of California at Berkeley's Labor Center says that it's already happening. Seven billion dollars a year is what it costs taxpayers for Medicaid, food stamps and the other public assistance programs for fast-food workers who are paid poverty-level wages.

THE SALVATION Army last year commissioned a poll assessing Americans' attitudes about the poor. More than one in four - 27 percent - said they believe that people are poor because they are lazy, not because they chose their parents unwisely or were hammered by forces beyond their control. By sheer coincidence, that 27-percent finding dovetails nicely with the Gallup Poll's recent report that 28 percent of Americans have a favorable view of the Republican Party. It's also close to the 25 percent who told the Huffington Post/YouGov poll this summer that they believe that aliens have visited planet Earth, and the 25 percent who told the Pew Religion and Public Life Project in 2009 that they believe in astrology.

At the stroke of midnight on Halloween, food-stamp benefits were cut throughout America for the first time in history. People woke up Friday in unknown territory, having to figure how the loss of $5 billion in benefits - the equivalent of 1.9 billion meals nationwide in fiscal 2014 alone - will play out on the kitchen tables of the 47 million Americans who get food stamps. "This is nothing short of catastrophic," said Bill Clark, executive director of Philabundance, the largest hunger-relief agency in the region.

The manager of a Camden store pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of fraudulently redeeming nearly $3 million in food stamp benefits. Alexander Vargas, 34, who managed Eddie's Grocery, accepted a plea agreement Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release. Vargas faces up to 10 years in prison, but is likely to serve less, according to a spokesman for the office. Vargas was a cosigner on the store's account beginning February 2012.

LAST week, Gov. Corbett signaled that he may reconsider his administration's policy to require asset tests for food-stamp applicants. This followed comments from recently appointed Department of Public Welfare chief Beverly Mackereth that she was less interested in testing assets of applicants than getting food stamps to those who need them. That's a refreshing sea change from former DPW chief Gary Alexander, who was responsible for the policy, claiming that he was trying to curb waste, fraud and abuse in the program - although he was alone in thinking that the program attracts fraud.

PHILADELPHIA Gov. Corbett said Wednesday he would take into consideration the state public welfare secretary's announcement that she was "rethinking" the food-stamp asset test, a measure that links federal benefits people receive to their bank accounts and car ownership. He made the comments when asked about the issue at a news conference promoting his "Healthy Pennsylvania" initiative. On Tuesday, Department of Public Welfare Secretary Beverly Mackereth told members of The Inquirer Editorial Board she was rethinking the asset test, adding: "My focus is not on waste.

A Corbett administration official said she is "rethinking" the food-stamp asset test, a controversial measure that ties the federal benefits people receive to their bank accounts and car ownership. Department of Public Welfare Secretary Beverly Mackereth made the statement during a meeting with The Inquirer's editorial board Tuesday. Her remark represents a potential sea change in how the administration views dealing with the poor, advocates say. "We are thrilled," said Julie Zaebst, policy manager for the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger.

The electronic system retailers use to process food stamps shut down Saturday, affecting shoppers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and 15 other states. Officials at Xerox, which runs the Electronic Benefits Transfer system, said it crashed during a routine test Saturday morning. The system lets retailers process Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Women, Infants and Children benefits from customers. The shutdown potentially affected hundreds of thousands of families across the region who buy food with EBT cards.